After an unprecedented month off in the early part of the season due to the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix – Formula One shook off the rust with a chaotic return to racing in the first practice session for this weekend’s 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had his car catch fire while several other cars experienced either mechanical failures or other issues and not all teams decided to run the same tires.
Red Bull was the fastest of the group who ran the soft tires, with Max Verstappen leading the way there, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was the fastest of the group running the medium tires and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was the sole driver running hard tires.
